ASCILITE NEWS

The Inaugural ASCILITE Spring into Excellence Research School

The ASCILITE Spring into Excellence Research Schoolwill be held 26 – 28 September 2017 at the University of Wollongong. This event, which will be hosted by the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, will feature guest speakers and presenters including Professor Barney Dalgarno, Associate Professor Rob Phillips and Emeritus Professor Margaret Lloyd.

The aim of the ASCILITE Spring into Excellence Research School is to:

Provide support and guidance to participants in developing and progressing Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) research initiatives including but not limited to:
– Formulating a relevant and effective TEL research project.
– Collecting appropriate TEL research data.
– Identifying what data is most appropriate for TEL research.

Assist participants to identify and plan a contemporary TEL research project.

Enable opportunities for participants to link with like-minded collaborators from other universities and potentially to establish viable cross-institutional research collaborations.

Guide participants in developing a grant application or research plan for a TEL research project. This would include both projects that have already been conceptualized as well as new projects that have not yet been conceived.

At the end of the ASCILITE Spring into Excellence Research School participants will:

Have gained a sound understanding of current topical areas and methodologies for TEL research

Have broadened their professional networks

Have a well-developed and comprehensive plan for a TEL research project

Appreciate how to be successful in publishing manuscripts in journals

Be able to confidently review a manuscript and provide constructive feedback; and

Have a strategy for identifying potential funding opportunities and developing funding applications

The ASCILITE Spring into Excellence Research School will be most suitable for:

Early to mid-career researchers

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) enthusiasts

Teaching intensive academics

ASCILITE mentors and mentees

Anyone interested in applying for a TEL research grant

Anyone interested in TEL research collaborations and cross-institutional research projects

Academics seeking to incorporate research into their TEL practice and approach

Chairs of research

HDR coordinators

PhD supervisors

This 3-day ASCILITE Spring into Excellence Research School, which includes lunches, morning and afternoon teas and 2 nights accommodation (26 & 27 September 2017), is $750 for ASCILITE members and $950 for non-members.

Expressions of interest to attend the inaugural ASCILITE Research School are due by 14 July 2017. Please note that there are limited places available so don’t be disappointed, register now.

EOI outcome notifications will be sent by 28 July 2017 and successful applicants will be provided with registration payment details at that time.

ASCILITE 2017 Blog: Call for Participation Extended Deadline

The Call for Participation deadline for the ASCILITE 2017 conference has been extended to 5 June. You will find details on the Conference blog here. If you have not already subscribed to the conference blog, now may be a good time to do so via RSS or email.

You can also follow the conference on Twitter at @asciliteconf. The conference team will be posting key information there in the lead up to and throughout the conference.

Next TELedvisors SIG Webinar

Topic: What's in a name? Roles, meaning and the 'third space'

Date & Time: Thursday 1 June 3pm – 4pm (AEST)

Abstract: The 'third space' is the area between (or across) teaching and administration that most TELedvisors work in. It's not a well-defined space and few job titles are used consistently across the education sector, meaning that there can be a lack of clarity about what it is that we know and can do. This confusion can then make effective collaboration with teachers/lecturers/management more complex than it needs to be.

Our presenters have been exploring these issues in the search for better ways of working and also advocating for our work as TELedvisors.

Next Transforming Assessment (e-Assessment SIG) Webinar

Abstract: This session will explore the use of the 'Map my programme' tool as a means of developing more holistic assessment across a program. The tool promotes team engagement, reflection on curriculum design, and displays graphical real-time, assessment modalities, weighting and submission dates for each module within a programme.

Recording available

A recording is now available for the previous session Dialogue+: Students learning about assessment in first year held 3 May 2017. Dialogue+ supports first year students’ participation with, and understanding of assessment and feedback processes at university through the promotion of dialogue with lecturers. The intervention uses an interactive coversheet (ICS) (Bloxham and Campbell, 2010) along with lecturer and peer mentor-assisted workshops and peer mentoring. This session was presented by Dr Rebecca Westrup (University of East Anglia, UK) and Prof Sue Bloxham (University of Cumbria, UK)..

In this session, the editors provided an overview of the publication process and what it takes to become a successful AJET author or reviewer. The editors outlined the AJET editorial process, including the screening and peer review processes, and highlight important characteristics of publishable research articles. This webinar was deemed particularly useful for early career researchers looking for a better understanding of the publication requirements, as well as those seeking opportunities to be a reviewer.

Latest TELall Blog Post: "ASCILITE – What's in it for me?"

The latest post in ASCILITE's TELall blog is from Mark Schier (Senior Lecturer, Swinburne University of Technology) ) who has written on the topic of "ASCILITE: What's in it for Me?" As Mark puts it, "Like the attractions at the local country show from my home town, there’s something at ASCILITE for everyone". You can view the post here.